Regular reader will have probably realized I’m a
huge Star Wars fan. What’s a little less obvious is that I have
my Star Trek tendencies, as well. It’s not that I like either
one more than the other, I’m not that kind of militant fan.

Of all of the myriad of characters that inhabit
the Star Trek universe, my favorite is Scotty. Which really
isn’t a surprise considering that I’m an engineer. And yes, I
never tell anybody how long it takes actually do something.

When I was looking at degree programs before
starting college, somebody recommended engineering as a
suggestions. At the time, I had no idea what engineers did
except for a little drafting. But I did know that the
Enterprise’s engineer got to play with some pretty cool toys.

And no, I don’t get to tinker with warp cores at
my job. But I do get technical journals in the mail. I will also
tell you that, much like Scotty, that people only seek out my
help when there is a problem to fix. Of course, in the real
world, like TV, there are always problems to fix.

As of this writing the new film has not been
released, but the figures are trickling into stores nationwide.
I thought I’d pick one up before the movie’s premier, to make an
unbiased appraisal. Who should I get? Kirk? Spock? Checkov? Nah.
There was only really one choice for me.

In the new film, Scotty is being portrayed by
Simon Pegg, best known for portraying Shaun in “Shaun of the
Dead.” From the bits I’ve been able to learn over the web, he
does a good job of portraying the young Mr. Scott.

Appearance:

The upcoming Star Trek film takes place prior to Star Trek
The Orignal Series (TOS, for the non-trekkers.) As such, the
styling is influenced a little by all the series that have come
previously. But, while the style if familiar, it has been
updated. This isn’t your father’s Star Trek universe.

Along with the look of the Enterprise and technology, the
uniforms have been updated as well. They have distinct textures
and layering not present on the TOS uniforms. The seams
and layering in the color remind me a bit of hockey jersey over
a mock turtle neck.

This figure represent that by showing heavy seams at the neck
and shoulders. Perhaps a little too much, but maybe not. I’m
thankful, Playmates didn’t try to replicate the shirt texture on
this version. I believe the shirt is a separate piece on the 6
inch figures to achieve the layers. Ironically, the
command braids on the sleeves are painted only, and not
sculpted.

Next up is his face. Now, I will say I didn’t recognize Mr.
Pegg immediately in some of the early trailers. With the dark
hair and shaved face, he looks a little less like Shaun and more
like Scotty. However, I don’t think this figure really portrays
either of them very well. As a matter of fact, I think he looks
more like Dr. Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory. Of
course, Sheldon wears the blue science division color instead of
engineering red. I’ve included pictures below, so you can make
your own decision. (Check out the Dr. Sheldon CooperSquidoo lens
for funny clips and the rules of
Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock.)

While I’m sure it’s probably present in the film, Scotty’s
uniform sports a new innovation in Star Trek uniforms: pockets.
There are four sculpted pockets; two in the front and two in the
back. The pants also have a fly, even though, to my knowledge,
there are no bathrooms on the Enterprise. The elastic band
looking things above the knees are present, as well.

I only really had two very tiny issues with the paint. There is
the smallest amount of slop on the lightly sculpted hairline.�
Second, there is a bit of the underlying plastic showing through
on his right hand at the cuff.

There also is a white number painted on the bottom of one foot
like the older Playmates figures. I really can’t believe they
would put a paint ap in for that, since I’ve never seen them
affect collect ability. There is only one foot with a peg hole,
as well.

In general, the sculpt is a good neutral Star Trek body. Some of
the detailing, like the seams, is a slight bit overdone. The
facial likeness is a bit soft and could use improvement,
however.

Fun:

The articulation of this figure is an attempt to produce a
figure on par with a super articulated Star Wars figure. This
attempt fall a bit short. I can’t state how much trouble I’ve
had trying to get this figure to stand on his own. The
ankles are a little higher than a standard SW figure and don’t
move as easily. I think they are the biggest contributing
factor.

The
knees and elbows both suffer from a similar issue. There was a
trade off made between making the sculpt look good and having
the joint work right. Because of this you don’t get the range of
motion that folks have come to expect from this kind of figure.

Also, the head isn’t ball jointed. I darn near broke his head
off trying to make him look up before I realized it. It seems
I’ve come to take a ball jointed head for granted.

Scotty comes with a phaser and utility belt. The utility belt is a
stretchy rubber. It slides over the figure well, but doesn’t seem
like it will stay on very well. I have to say I spent a couple
minutes trying to get the communicator out before I realized it
was part of the belt and only paint. On the opposite end of the
spectrum, the phaser suffers from bad paint. The future weapon
suffers from having globs of blue and red splashed on instead of
delicately applied to the details. Still it’s much better than the
fluorescent goodies Playmates used to pack with Star Trek figures.

There
is also a base included with the figure. Similar to almost ever
other Star Trek figure, it’s the Starfleet emblem. This one is
molded in a silver plastic and looks like a cheap knock off. If
you want to get the crap kicked out of you on the playground,
there is a removable clip that attaches to the back so you can
wear it.

I
was excited to see there is a bridge playset for this line, even
though I’m not convinced about the styling, yet. However, to
really fill out the bridge, you need all of the figures that come
with pieces of it. The bridge playset is a “starter” set that you
can add on to. I’m less than enthused with that.

Scotty comes with a half of a console and a chair as his part of
the bridge. If the layout is the same as the original bridge, it’s
an engineering station. Or half of it. There is a cut in the
middle that makes the thing look a little goofy from the one end.

It’s
great to see a line that has a chair in this scale. People do sit
when they do work. Scotty apparently isn’t one of them. Because
his hips are limited by his shirt, he can really setup straight in
his chair. On top of that, his knees don’t bend far enough to let
him really sit the chair right, either.

The console is designed as an upright panel. While it looks great
standing behind the figure, It doesn’t work right with the chair.
His legs cant go under it far enough that he can even reach the
console to work.

Overall:

Much
like Indiana Jones, I had high hopes for this line. And much like
IJ, I’m a bit let down by the initial offering. There’s just
enough little things off that this figure frustrated me out of the
package.

It’s sad to see Playmates try to come back to the
Trek license and be an underperformer. Ten years ago, this figure
would’ve been on the cutting edge. But, you can’t just overlook
what people have come to expect. Ball jointed heads are pretty
much standard these days, for example.

Add on top of a mediocre figure, a build-a-set
gimmick that doesn’t work on it’s own. I know its really part of
something bigger, but I don’t see how a bunch of these pieces
would add up to be any better.

I just don’t understand why they had to have a 6″
and a 3 3/4″ lines. If you are going to do that, one of them
better be darn good. Instead they seem to have gone “meh” across
the board. I really wish they would have picked one scale and put
an effort into making it great. With all the delays the film had,
they had the opportunity to do that.

Something I didn’t mention is the package seems
wasteful for the size and space it takes up. It also has some
twisties in it that I had to get pliers out to undo.

I hate to say it, but I can see this line going the
Indiana Jones way. A couple of lines that peg warm, and then some
really great figures that nobody can get because the line is
cancelled. I hope not, but Playmates will need to make a course
correction to win over the 3 3/4″ collectors.

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